When I was laid off from my job seven years ago, I lost my apartment and was forced to live with my parents. I was living paycheck to paycheck, so when money dried up, I had no emergency fund. Life sucked. My confidence went down along with my back account balance. I could not enjoy life the way I once did. I vowed I’d never be broke again.

Here at S&T, we aim to enlighten, encourage, and empower women to be the best they can be. Financial prosperity supports our goal. How can you live a fulfilling life when you’re consistently broke? It’s hard. I’ve tried. Part of our mission is help you achieve financial prosperity.

Unfortunately, our 9-to-5 jobs will not get us to the promise land. Sure, it will help you pay bills, go on a few trips, and pay off some student loans, but real financial gain is through investments and entrepreneurship. The average person spends 8 hours of their day working for someone else. After a long day at the office, we juggle our other priorities: gym, family, housekeeping, etc. It’s difficult to invest the time and energy to work for yourself, unless we master the art of time management.Time management and financial prosperity are partners. When you’re better with managing your time, you’re in a better position to achieve financial success. Time is always money, even outside of the four walls of corporate America. That’s why lately, my goal has been on enhancing my productivity.

Don’t get me wrong; productivity has always been my thing. I’ve always like to get things done: to-do lists, calendar apps, Trello boards, organizational systems. But lately, I’ve been more intentional in my quest to effective time management. I’ve read dozens of articles on the topic. I’ve even tried a few strategies, but I must admit: some things do not work for me. I’ve created a few hacks that have worked for me. Maybe they will work for you also.

1. Dance.

The massive literature on productivity will tell you that exercising helps you work better. I agree, but I do not like going to the gym. Treadmills, elliptical machines, stationery bikes, and step aerobic classes bore me to sleep. So, I dance. (I also go to Zumba classes.) I don’t have to go to the gym to do that. I simply crank up my favorite Afrobeat, Soca, or Reggaeton and dance until I can’t no more. Then, I proceed with whatever I’m doing. It gets my blood flowing and helps me sleep better at night.

2. Have a party.

Yes, you read that right. Have a girls night out, a wine down, or whatever it is that you enjoy. I love hanging out with friends. And, while life has been busy for me lately, I’ve found that when I’ve taken time out of my day to meet with friends for lunch, I’ve returned to the office with a pep in my step, ready to check every item off my task list.

As we get older, we get busier. And unfortunately, we put “having fun” at the bottom of our list. It’s not a good thing. All work and no play makes me grumpy. And grumpiness is not an ingredient for productivity.

3. Clear the clutter.

At the risk of showing you how quirky I am, I have a confession to make. I cannot write a blog post unless my room or home office is cleaned. I know that sounds weird, but a clean office helps my mind flow a little better. When I get to work in the morning, checking my e-mail is not the first thing I do. The first thing I do is arrange my desk so that the project that I’m working on that day is front and center. Then, I check my task list. And then, I check my e-mail.

A cluttered space is a cluttered mind. Be more productive; clean your space.

4. Schedule your day.

Saturday is one of my favorite days of the week. It’s the only day that is completely devoted to working on my projects. So, when it rolls around, I have a list of things to accomplish. I wake up early on Saturday, watch a T.V. show. Then, I eat breakfast. Run an errand. Before I know it, it’s 9pm and I haven’t completed anything on my task list.

Scheduling my day helps me prevent this mishap. When I say schedule, I actually mean using my i-phone calendar app or pen and paper and writing out an itinerary of what my day will look like from start to finish. This helps me stay on top of my task list.

5. Don’t hold a grudge.

Holding grudges against people is difficult. Think about it. You have to think about it; remember that you’re angry. Talk about it. Dwell on it. All of this is robbing of you of the energy and creativity you could have put forth on your new project.  Meanwhile, the person you’re angry with is laughing, smiling and having a wonderful time not thinking about you.

Grudges are heavy. Lighten your load and increase your productivity. I’ve found that I’m most productive when I am happy.

So, S&T these are my productivity hacks. Tried and true by yours truly. Hope you find them useful as I do.

---

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts. Stay tuned for our next post on Thursday 12/14. In the meantime, drop a line and let us know if you’ve liked what you read. See you soon!